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Check out the list of nominees for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards! (Photo: courtesy of college-of-music.com)

A lot of questions will be answered in August at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. How many Moonmen will Beyoncé win? Who will be the next superstar to get all butthurt? Will Jay Z and Solange square off for another elevator kickboxing match afterwards? We’ll find out on August 24 at 9 p.m. (EST) as the ceremony airs live from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

In the meantime, we get to take a look at the list of nominees more than a month ahead of time. Beyoncé leads the way (not unexpectedly) with a whopping eight nominations, including video of the year for her collaboration with husband Jay Z, “Drunk In Love.” Close behind her are Eminem and Iggy Azalea with seven nods each.

Pharrell Williams is also sitting pretty with multiple nominations for his phenomenally popular song “Happy.” He’ll have some stiff competition in the video of the year category, however, going up against juggernauts such as Miley Cyrus (“Wrecking Ball“), Iggy Azalea (“Fancy“), Sia (“Chandelier“), and the aforementioned Beyoncé (“Drunk In Love”).

Pharrell is also up for the best male video award, going head-to-head not only with the likes of Eminem and John Legend, but also with… himself! Both “Happy” and “Sing,” his video collaboration with Ed Sheeran, are nominated in the category so it’s entirely possible that Williams could both win and lose at the same time. Something tells me he wouldn’t be too crushed, though.

Click this link to see the full list of this year’s VMA nominees, including the categories only the nominees themselves care about. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and share your picks for this year’s big winners!

Drake used his status as host of the ESPYs to take another potshot at Macklemore (Photo: courtesy of laineygossip.com)

Feuds in the music industry are certainly nothing new. Eminem and his mom, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster, Jay Z and Solange… all of these extremely public disputes have one thing in common; they usually stem from some deep seeded personal or professional issue. Drake‘s recent issues with Grammy winner Macklemore, however, seem to be rooted in nothing more than jealousy and an inability to just let things go.

He further proved this assumption by taking yet another shot at his perceived foe while hosting last night’s ESPY Awards on ESPN. As he performed an original (and admittedly entertaining) song titled “Honorable Mentions/Side Pieces,” Drake had a picture of Macklemore holding his newly won Grammys posted on the screen behind him as he belted out the lyrics “Real talent doesn’t always win championships, like real music doesn’t always win Grammys.” Classy.

(Photo: courtesy of Twitter.com)

Apparently, Drake still feels slighted after losing to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the 2014 Annual Grammy Awards, at which the pair dominated the rap category by picking up awards for Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Album. After the awards, Drake did an interview with Rolling Stone in which he stated that he felt “robbed” by the duo and slighted personally because he didn’t get a text from Macklemore like Kendrick Lamar did. Really, dude?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that “real talent” doesn’t need validation from other artists or awards organizations. Nor do “real artists” feel the need to belittle or begrudge others for their success. And here’s the thing; Drake is talented! Very talented. So why waste so much energy on such a pointless grudge? I guarantee Macklemore isn’t losing any sleep over it. Just my opinion.

Big Sean isn’t the only one laughing at Kanye (Photo; courtesy of entertainmentwise.com)

Happy Monday, my friends! The news is full of depressing stuff right now (always), from escalating turmoil in the Middle East to rioting in Buenos Aires following Argentina’s loss in the World Cup. so I thought we’d skip all that and kick your week off with a few laughs.

We all love memes. I mean, what better way to get your point across on the internet than by posting a picture you didn’t take with a sarcastic comment you didn’t write? Still, they’re always good for a laugh, so I thought we’d take a look at a few rap music fact-check memes by Emmanuel Hudson. This is what you get when you actually pay attention to the lyrics in your favorite songs. They’re funny ’cause they’re true. 🙂

Do you love hip hop? I mean, really love hip hop? Would you recognize your favorite artists on the street? Jay Z, Drake, Macklemore? How about Ryan Lewis; would you recognize him? Well Jimmy Fallon was willing to bet you wouldn’t, and who better to prove it than Ryan Lewis himself!

In a recent piece for NBC’s The Tonight Show, the musician/DJ/producer took to the streets of New York to ask people what they thought about Ryan Lewis. The results? Pretty damn funny.

I especially love the face of the girl in the white shirt! You can practically count down to the moment when she finally puts two and two together. 🙂

Lewis and Macklemore began their friendship and business relationship back in 2006 and have been working together ever since. While his partnership with the popular hip hop star is surely his most lucrative and prominent venture, Lewis has also collaborated with a variety of other artists and even produced his own album titled Instrumentals.

Jay Z, Beyonce, and Solange attending a party in Hollywood (photo: abcnews.go.com)

Two days after the release of security footage showing rapper Jay Z allegedly being attacked by his sister-in-law Solange Knowles in a hotel elevator, we’re still in the dark regarding the nature of the dispute.

On Monday (5/12), TMZ released the footage obtained from The Standard Hotel showing what appears to be Solange Knowles, sister of mega-star and Jay Z’s wife, Beyonce Knowles, punching and kicking the iconic rapper as he keeps his hands up in defense. Solange continues the assault even after being grabbed by a security guard.

Though no one has come forward to state what caused the altercation, the family feud has apparently simmered down to some degree as the troubled in-laws were spotted shopping together in a jewelry store (Mr. Flawless) in New York City yesterday (5/13).

According to sources, the pair were cool, calm, and collected as they browsed the high end shop in the famed NYC Diamond District in silence for around 20 minutes. So have they patched things up, or did they just not want to fit the bill for trashing the place?

Drake and Jay Z performing during happier times (photo courtesy of postalmusicmag.com)

How are rappers Jay Z and Drake linked to art, fondue, and lacrosse? The answer isn’t apparent unless you’ve been keeping up with the jabs they’ve been throwing at each other. Despite previous collaborations on Jay Z’s “Off That” and Drake’s “Light Up” and “Pound Cake” the two have been in an ongoing feud. However this isn’t shocking. Hip hop has a fiercely competitive nature, not seen in any other genre of music. When you add in egos and reputations to defend, it’s easy for things to heat up between artists.

Unfortunately, there can be causalities in beef. It seems Jay has put another target on his back and made an enemy: Major League Lacrosse. We can easily assume he prefers basketball considering his former part ownership of the Brooklyn Nets, but this isn’t an issue of favorite sports. The tension stems from a verse in DJ Khaled’s “They Don’t Love You No More” where he says presumably about Drake, “Haters wanna ball let me tighten up my drawstring / Wrong sport boy, you know you’re soft as a lacrosse team.”

In hip hop lyrical capabilities shine with the use of metaphors, clever word play, and delivery. More often than not, this results as someone or something else being the butt of a joke. According to Billboard, professional lacrosse players were not amused:

“Lacrosse is often called the fastest sport on two feet. Players are on the field dodging and shooting balls at over 100 miles per hour… With that said we don’t think Jay Z knows what he’s talking about when he calls lacrosse ‘soft.’ I can guarantee you it is anything but a ‘soft’ sport… Mr. Carter would not last one minute on a lacrosse field during a match and he is more than welcome to come to any of our games and try.”

All hail the Queen! Off the success of her self-titled album and the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, Beyoncé shows no signs of slowing down. She graces the cover of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” labeled as a titan. In the issue Sheryl Sandberg writes, “Beyoncé doesn’t just sit at the table. She builds a better one.”

Bey shocked the world with the surprise release of her visual album in December. Beyoncé is female-centic; it contains messages of feminism, expresses vulnerability, and proudly embraces sexuality. The video for her single “Pretty Hurts” officially premiered on TIME.com a few days ago. Her passionate calls for self-empowerment through topics such as love, beauty, and motherhood place her as a prominent voice concerning women’s roles in society and pop culture.

In terms of business, she seems to be writing the playbook on innovations in the music industry. She holds the title for the fastest-selling album in iTunes history. It makes sense that others are considering employing her strategy. At one point it was believed that Mariah Carey may use a similar approach with the release of her upcoming album.